Playing the 'Russia card' to make Americans ignore content of Clinton emails

The Clinton campaign’s accusations that Moscow is behind the WikiLeaks releases is a deflection to cause Americans to focus on the Russian angle and ignore the content of the emails, says Brad Cabana, political scientist and retired military captain.

Newly-discovered Hillary Clinton emails from her time as secretary of state have started yet another scandal just days before the presidential election in the US. FBI Director James Comey said in a letter addressed to several congressmen that the FBI will reopen its probe into Clinton's use of a private email server.

This drew an immediate reaction from one Democratic party member, Tim Ryan, who suggested Russia once again could be involved.

RT:Why has Russia been the immediate fall guy for every email leak recently?

Brad Cabana: My immediate thought is that’s a continuation of the previous defensive position of the Clinton campaign to essentially blame Russia – cast doubts in the minds of the American public... Unfortunately for them, on this side of the pond it’s been quite evident that those emails came from an investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s right-hand woman’s ex-husband. That casts doubt on the previous commentary they were making about the Russians being involved with the WikiLeaks.

RT:Do US general public buy this kind of story that Russia is somehow meddling in the US elections?

BC: ...There always has been aspersions cast upon WikiLeaks in the West because of the information they were releasing. However, I think the Russian angle – I don’t hear anybody on the ground that were really listening to that in any seriousness.

RT:Is it a distraction technic at the end of the day here?

BC: It is a deflection to cause the American people to focus on the Russian angle as opposed to the content of the e-mails, quite frankly. However, like I say, this latest blame-game is really going to damage the original propaganda if you will, that was being used against WikiLeaks in the beginning. So it may actually backfire on the Clinton campaign.

RT:What is the general feeling amongst the public? Are people jumping up and down by the content of the emails?

BC: I think there is a great thirst for that information. Mrs. Clinton has a terrible trust rating with the American people, to begin with. So this won’t help her. On the flip side, her accusations against Mr. Trump – that he will somehow be dangerous in international affairs, kind of slips away when you consider the fact she’s using Russia, a world power, to plant a political attack on her.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.